EU Security Challenges and Their Economic Implications

Abstract:
Considering the volatile political, economic and security present environment, the European Union is currently facing more challenges than ever before in its existence. In addition to the challenges deriving directly from its status as a political-economical union of states, the EU is facing increasingly serious security challenges. Some of these challenges are not new, such as those identified in the seminal document 'A Secure Europe in a Better Worldâ€™ adopted by EU in 2010 (which singles out five key threats: terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, state failure, organized crime). Other security challenges have emerged more recently, such as illegal migration or the worsening of the relations with Russia. Although the nature of these challenges is related to security and defense, many of them have economic implications and it is the purpose of this paper to analyze the complex interactions between the security and the economic challenges faced by the EU, and also by the individual member countries.